Knowledge and Skills Statement
Pose questions to students regarding author’s craft, specifically how the author's use of figurative language in a text achieves a specific purpose. Monitor to ensure all students participate, provide relevant responses, use accurate evidence from the text, and make accurate connections to the author's purpose.
Questions to Ask:
- How does the author create imagery in the text?
- What is the purpose of the imagery?
- Why is it important and necessary for the author to include it?
- What effect does the imagery have on the reader’s understanding of the text?
Notes:
- Provide specific prompts or prepared notes for students who need support.
- Challenge more advanced students to suggest additional ideas the author could use in the text for a simile, metaphor, or sound device.
Further Explanation
This SE requires students to identify and communicate how authors purposely use action words or detailed descriptions of people, places, and things to paint vivid scenes in the minds of readers. Through similes, metaphors, and other types of figurative language, authors compare dissimilar objects. Students are expected to recognize that these comparisons are effective because they connect to a reader’s senses and prior experiences. With sound devices such as alliteration, students are expected to recognize that an author is creating rhythm by using words that begin with the same sound such as big bad bear.
Research
Palmer, B. C., Shackelford, V. S., Miller, S. C., & Leclere, J. T. (2006). Bridging two worlds: reading comprehension, figurative language instruction, and the English-language learner. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(4), 258+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A156736307/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=4ec470e1
Summary: Recognizing that figurative language is a challenge for EL students, the authors consider ways to transition students from modeled practice steps in interpreting figurative language when reading to self-assessed interpretations. Specific strategies and examples are provided, including discussing with students about the importance of figurative language and its contexts.